Your Warm Hands
by quali-tea-individual
Summary: SPOILERS FOR BLUE LIONS ROUTE. "Your hands are so warm...have they always been?" During a restless night, Dimitri is consumed by thoughts and memories of Byleth, wishing he knew what to do about her and her warm hands.


Your Warm Hands

Dimitri has always been a restless one, having dealt with the scaring nightmares of his past coming back to haunt him for a good portion of his adult life. On top of that now was constant worrying about his newfound kingly duties, as well as tying up any loose ends of the war. Nearly every night, he would be up writing his plans for the future of Fòdlan, reading various books about land owning and politics, sharpening his lances, or simply wandering the halls of the monastery in hopes of chasing away the ghosts that haunt his mind.

Tonight, however, Dimitri was lost in deep thought as he stared wistfully out of his dormitory window.

For the most part, this restless night was not any different from the others. However, two major things were weighing on his mind: his impending coronation and _her._

The coronation was manageable—he had essentially already assumed the role of king, this was just the last step in making it official.

It was the latter of those two that was truly consuming his mind.

Pining for her presence, Dimitri cannot help but let out a soft sigh as his thoughts drift to her once again.

"Byleth…"

The last time he saw her was this morning. He had gone under the pretense to ask her about several duties and procedures leading into their dual coronation tomorrow. It was a thorough conversation, yet it still ended far too quickly for Dimitri's liking. All he truly wanted was to see her, if only for a short while.

Since the war ended the two were not spending nearly as much time together as they had used to. Dimitri was attending to his responsibilities as king-to-be, and Byleth with her responsibilities as the newly appointed archbishop. There was a lot that needed to get done, and neither of the two were entirely healed from the final battle against the Imperial forces only making it harder to make time to visit one another.

Yet part of Dimitri did not care. He only wished to see her; to _be _with her. He knew it was selfish, but this feeling had been boiling within him for so long, he was not sure how much longer would be able to hold it in for.

"Oh goddess, what am I to do…" He groaned, resting his head in his hands.

Without her by him, he felt as if his heart would burst. With his mind having been consumed for so long by the voices of his father, step-mother, and friends from all those years ago, he could now only think of Byleth.

"_The light and comfort that she brings with her wherever she goes, her stern but caring face she makes when attempting to explain tactics or when giving a lesson in swordplay, her sweet voice…"_

Dimitri stops his train of thoughts to pull his face up to observe his hands.

"Your warm hands." He says quietly to himself.

In an instant, he is transported back to the day he snapped out of his bloodthirsty trance. He was about to leave for Enbarr when he was stopped by Byleth.

Dimitri had initially told himself that he would stop taking orders from or listening to Byleth. This was no one's mission but his own, and he was going to take care of it how he deemed fit.

But of course, even his deep desire for revenge was no match for what she did to him. Without faltering, she gave him sound, logical advice that was not only intelligent but came from a place of deep care and respect.

It was there she reached out her hand to him.

He remembers being oddly frightened in the moment. He knew all that she was saying was correct. He needed to stand up for his beliefs and cease obsessing over the wishes of the dead. Yet he was so scared to grab her hand.

Dimitri had always had great respect for his professor but was skeptical of her for a long while. She killed so mercilessly, without seeming to feel an ounce of guilt for her actions. How could he trust someone like that?

How could he trust someone with such bloody hands?

Overtime, they only grew closer and Dimitri began to realize how wrong he was. Byleth was compassionate, and only killed because she essentially had to in order to stay alive and eventually to protect her students. Around this time, a small flicker of light was also beginning to form the more the two spent time together, yet he could not quite place what that feeling was.

Then she was gone.

For five long years, Dimitri was consumed with his desire for revenge and nothing else, turning him into a ruthless animal to the point where he bloodied his hands just as much as Byleth had, if not more so. That small flicker of emotion, while not burnt out, was stowed far, far away where no one could reach it. Byleth's eventual return only strengthened his resolve to carry out his vengeful campaign against Edelgard and to bury his feelings even deeper.

He had done horrible things in that time. He verbally abused and berated his friends, destroyed those who had opposed him, and only planned to spiral deeper into madness until his thirst for Edelgard's death had been quenched. He was a monster.

And yet Byleth still extended her hand toward him.

Finally taking it, he was overwhelmed by such an unusual, comforting feeling he was at a loss of words.

"Your hands are so warm...have they always been?"

From that moment forward, Dimitri was ready to change the world for the better. He desired nothing more than to give his people the Kingdom and King that they desperately deserved and would do what he could to put a stop to this gruesome war.

Simultaneously, his heart began to open again as well. That tiny flame he felt toward Byleth soon began to erupt with emotion to the point that he could no longer understand what he was feeling. Every time he would glance at his own hands, he would get a tiny shiver as the memory of the two of them holding hands in the rain would flood his memory.

He could not believe that someone like her would even think to extend her hand to someone who had been so horrible to her and everyone for months. And yet her kindness toward him never wavered. And the feelings he would get seeing her smile or by any gentle brush of their bodies would only continue to grow as the days passed. She was his inspiration, she makes him feel safe, she makes him feel anything at all…

"_She gives me a reason to go on…" _

The war preparations gave him a reason to not confront his feelings for her immediately. Now that the war was over and he was left to his thoughts of her, he was at the point of explosion.

Dimitri loved her so deeply and truly he had no idea what to do with himself.

Impulsively, he stood up and grabbed the emerald ring he had been hiding away for moons and fled his room.

He knew that she would be up around now as well.

"_She must know."_ He thought to himself as he scurried to the one place she would be at this time of night.

As he climbs the daunting steps of the Goddess Tower, Dimitri thinks of the last time that the two of them were here. Remembering the ball and the crude joke he made about wishing to be together forever makes him cringe.

"Complete rubbish. How foolish this is about to all seem to her…" he says under his breath as he continues to climb.

Truthfully, Dimitri does not even know what to say to her when he gets there. He has never been good with talking about his feelings.

Feeling the ring in his pocket as if to feel for Byleth's warm, comforting hand in support as he finishes his climb, he feels ready to accept whatever comes out of his mouth, just so long as he ultimately tells her how much she means to him.

Finally, he reaches the top. The view from the tower is extravagant: the stars are shining, and you can see as far the eye can see. Despite the beauty around him, as he makes his way towards the edge of the balcony Dimitri only cares enough to see the beautiful girl standing in front of him

Byleth. His beloved.

"Come now, my friend. You must stop staying up so late. Tomorrow is yet another early morning."

A/N: Another one. I cannot reiterate how much I adore Dimitri. His story is beyond intriguing, and he is just a sweet boy who is lost and alone in the world.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! I am exhausted as I write this, so hopefully everything makes sense! Thanks for reading! Please feel free to review with any thoughts/suggestions you might have!


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